Darla "Geek" Gugenheek
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2020
(The video below does a good job of explaining the entire situation. If you would prefer to listen/watch something for twenty minutes rather than read a thread, there you go. I am in no way affiliated with the original uploader, "killjester".)
(Download here)
To summarize: numerous individuals (not affiliated with Valve) who organize Team Fortress 2's item economy (which involves a lot of real world monetary transactions and hoarding real world identification) have been accused of using their influence in the community to solicit naked selfies from underage users. Their response to these accusations has been the usual DFE, which is why I'm attempting to make this thread to archive what's been found so far.
TF NETWORK
Scrap.TF is one of many websites connected to what is formally known as the "TF Network", a third party resource useful for trading in-game items across various Valve games (but, as the name implies, specifically caters to Team Fortress 2.) Sibling websites include Marketplace.TF, where you may buy or sell items for potentially thousands of real world dollars, and Backpack.TF, which meticulously traces inter-user item trades spanning many years and votes on the "official" price of various Team Fortress 2 items. (To put things in better perspective, the "keys" they refer to in pricing typically cost $2.50 USD each.)
If you think this is nothing more than a collection of dills taking a video game's item trading system too seriously, you would be correct. However, real-world criminal organizations have used Team Fortress 2 item trading to launder money, as well as other Valve titles, so the absurdity is not exclusive to participants in the TF Network. There have been increasingly-large sums of real world cash floating around the TF Network for over a decade.
JESSE CARDONE
Jesse Cardone, or Jessecar, is a software engineer and staff moderator on virtually all TF Network endeavors. Most of these sites go so far as to call him a co-founder, which as you can imagine provides a significant amount of clout across the sites' 500,000+ users. He is also, as his avatars across all platforms suggest, a brony.
It's difficult to link/archive direct evidence of what he's been accused of, as the primary whistleblower for this debacle (LemonSavior/Kers_Pertt) was banned from Twitter and it's technically child porn, but the thoroughly-sanitized Twitter thread may be viewed here. Additionally, much of the evidence can be seen scattered throughout the video above. LemonSavior's own words on the topic may be read here.
Crimes that Jesse has been accused of include:
JOSHUA COFFEY ("GEEL")
Enter Geel9, the primary owner and face of TF Network's many ventures. He is probably the single most well-known individual in the Team Fortress 2 item trading scene because he operates every widely-used venue.
A vocal 'progressive' with a penchant for bitching about politics on Reddit, running perpetual damage control on Knockout (a Resetera-style reboot of Facepunch, with all the negative connotations that implies), and doing a poor job of running his website, Joshua Coffey co-operates the TF Network's many websites whenever he isn't being an abrasive, unlikable sped on social media (while utilizing his clout/money in the stylings of a virtual robber baron.)
Crimes Joshua have been accused of include:
To summarize: numerous individuals (not affiliated with Valve) who organize Team Fortress 2's item economy (which involves a lot of real world monetary transactions and hoarding real world identification) have been accused of using their influence in the community to solicit naked selfies from underage users. Their response to these accusations has been the usual DFE, which is why I'm attempting to make this thread to archive what's been found so far.
TF NETWORK
Scrap.TF is one of many websites connected to what is formally known as the "TF Network", a third party resource useful for trading in-game items across various Valve games (but, as the name implies, specifically caters to Team Fortress 2.) Sibling websites include Marketplace.TF, where you may buy or sell items for potentially thousands of real world dollars, and Backpack.TF, which meticulously traces inter-user item trades spanning many years and votes on the "official" price of various Team Fortress 2 items. (To put things in better perspective, the "keys" they refer to in pricing typically cost $2.50 USD each.)
If you think this is nothing more than a collection of dills taking a video game's item trading system too seriously, you would be correct. However, real-world criminal organizations have used Team Fortress 2 item trading to launder money, as well as other Valve titles, so the absurdity is not exclusive to participants in the TF Network. There have been increasingly-large sums of real world cash floating around the TF Network for over a decade.
JESSE CARDONE
Jesse Cardone, or Jessecar, is a software engineer and staff moderator on virtually all TF Network endeavors. Most of these sites go so far as to call him a co-founder, which as you can imagine provides a significant amount of clout across the sites' 500,000+ users. He is also, as his avatars across all platforms suggest, a brony.
It's difficult to link/archive direct evidence of what he's been accused of, as the primary whistleblower for this debacle (LemonSavior/Kers_Pertt) was banned from Twitter and it's technically child porn, but the thoroughly-sanitized Twitter thread may be viewed here. Additionally, much of the evidence can be seen scattered throughout the video above. LemonSavior's own words on the topic may be read here.
Crimes that Jesse has been accused of include:
- Convincing a 14-year old user to stuff an object up his ass and write "Jesse's Footstool" on his body (and then insisting it's not a big deal) in exchange for an exclusive on-site "Pony Plus" badge, which the Scrap.TF staff (who are also implicated in all this abuse) referred to as "the tramp stamp", suggesting all users who own it are on-site underage prostitutes. Jesse was twenty-four years old at the time.
- Formulating "other ways" to obtain the above badge, according to a Scrap.TF Discord admistrator, all of which relate to photographs and abuse of minors. (Allegedly, users over the age of 18 were denied these options.)
- Silencing all inquiry into this alleged abuse, not just on Discord but the many TF Network community websites he co-owns. (LemonSavior's Twitter was suspended in under 24 hours, for example, suggesting Jesse made use of individuals loyal to him, i.e. brigading.)
- Accusing whistleblowers of being pedophiles themselves, insisting they were stalking Jesse's furry accomplice known as "Lilith", and then simply defaulting to labeling them homophobes.
- Assisting the mentioned "Lilith" in soliciting underage users in private chats, who is described as 'overly-sexual.'
- Spying on "rival Discord channels" for any users trying to spread the word on Jesse, which he would then use to employ bans across the entire TF Network (thus severely cutting off users from trading their items or participating in the economy.) Marketplace.TF also collects personal information such as home addresses, as mentioned, so it's not unlikely Jesse pried into that as well.
- Being a FUCKING JANNY and making the word 'footrest' an instant, permanent ban on Scrap.TF (and unofficially-associated websites, such as Knockout forums.)
JOSHUA COFFEY ("GEEL")
Enter Geel9, the primary owner and face of TF Network's many ventures. He is probably the single most well-known individual in the Team Fortress 2 item trading scene because he operates every widely-used venue.
A vocal 'progressive' with a penchant for bitching about politics on Reddit, running perpetual damage control on Knockout (a Resetera-style reboot of Facepunch, with all the negative connotations that implies), and doing a poor job of running his website, Joshua Coffey co-operates the TF Network's many websites whenever he isn't being an abrasive, unlikable sped on social media (while utilizing his clout/money in the stylings of a virtual robber baron.)
Crimes Joshua have been accused of include:
- Orchestrating a 'honey trap', wherein users on 4chan's /vg/ board (who like Team Fortress 2, but dislike furries, item traders, pedophiles and jannies) were encouraged to join a raffle hosted by Geel himself. Suspecting that the users of /vg/ played a substantial part in ongoing accusations against Jesse, Geel utilized this raffle to determine what users on Scrap.TF were 'from 4chan', and then immediately issued a permanent suspension to every single one. This is notable because the raffle included expensive items ordinary Scrap.TF users would want to win, so a considerable number of ordinary users not from 4chan were also banned.
- Meddling in the prices of various Team Fortress 2 items (which again, can cost several thousand dollars), collaborating with select users to enforce said prices, then casually doling out bans to anyone who sells items for lower than his website's "advice."
- Enabling Jesse's shenanigans across all platforms. Covering up for Jesse, as well as whatever other implicated staff members he employs.
